My Name: Matthew Sanborn Smith. My challenge: Write 1000 stories by the time I'm 50 years old. Current story count: 160. Current age: 48. (Yes, I know it will never happen. I push on regardless.)
The One-Thousand is made up of stories that are aimed at publication in professional venues.
I've been published at Tor.com, Nature, and Chizine, among others. Listen to me on the occasional StarShipSofa and every single Beware the Hairy Mango. Shoot me an e-mail at upwithgravity@gmail.com

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Number 74 has hit the pavement. Jim Sawgrass and the Family Bulbs, my first non-fiction piece, which grew out of an e-mail I sent to some friends a couple of years back. And yes, according to the rules in my head, this does count as a story.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Back in ancient times, before I even wrote story #1 (Lives and Times, for you curiosos) I took a creative writing class at the local college, Indian River Community College. The guy who taught the course, I think his name was Lowell Stone, once said that you should have at least six stories in circulation at all times. Six! Holy Crap! That's a lot of stories. I couldn't imagine the amount of work I'd have to do to have six stories in circulation at the same time. Well, I eventually reached six and then a few more.

Today, with A Hard Rain, I realized I now have twenty stories in circulation at the same time. I feel good about that. I like to think it's a testament to my hard work. Of course, you could view it as a testament to my stories piling up because they hardly ever sell, but I'm going to stick with the hard work thing.

A Hard Rain, out the door. I'm hoping to have 74 packed off by the end of the week, just waiting for a microphone. It's an audio submission.

I just finished a draft of chapter seven of The Inner Workings of the Artificial Mind and sent it out to early readers (by that I don't mean preschoolers), so now I'm thinking about what I'll work on this week. Longtime readers of this blog may recall that every so often I pull out a story with the working title Process Five and say, "This will probably be number (whatever the next number is)." But it never is. Process Five is the story that never launches. Therefore, I won't say that Process Five will be diamond number 75. I will say that I may make it a draft or two better this week and maybe work on something completely new next week. We'll see.

Doing a thing a week, whether it's a story or a chapter is working well for me and it's definitely a better gear in which to be. My short term goal is to reach one-hundred stories by the end of 2008. It won't be the optimal speed for The One-Thousand but it's a hell of a lot better than any speed it's seen so far.

I've got nine days of vacation beginning Saturday, so I'm looking forward to getting more than one thing done next week. Time now to dive back into the fray. Talk to you soon.

Even if the movie sucks, they made one fantastic trailer. I can't stop watching it. They truly brought those memorable comic book frames to life. If I ever doubted that I'd sit through this thing, those doubts are behind me now.

Dale Manley read my story Sunday Dinner (first seen on this blog, faithful readers) and I thought he did a great job. Made my mouth water just listening to it. If you're not familiar with the tale, it's a story about a guy who sniffs magazines. And if that doesn't entice you, well friend, you are unenticeable.

Next up, Happy 4th! I didn't do anything very fourthy today, just worked for extra pay. I'll be celebrating that on the 11th when the money's in the bank.

Only 929 to go! Story #71 went out the door today. It's called Dritty Does. And he does, too. As for me, I feel myself picking up speed.

At this moment, life is good. I've got the weekend off, I'm eager to write and I'm going to have some Maple Walnut Ice Cream. I have to put that in capitals because it's the official ice cream of displaced New English everywhere.